


Bobble-Heads, Banners, and Beer Hats (Oh my!)

by a_dot_burr_ell



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Established Hollstein, Gen, holiday fluff, post episode 36
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2838617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dot_burr_ell/pseuds/a_dot_burr_ell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post episode 36. The holidays at Silas are fast approaching and the gang decides to have a party before everyone disbands for the school break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bobble-Heads, Banners, and Beer Hats (Oh my!)

**Author's Note:**

> This fluffy scene was written for tumblr user tallgaydanny for the Creampuff Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy, friend! I've enjoyed invading your ask box during this month!

“I don’t understand. Why are we doing this, again?” Danny sighed, looking expectantly around the room.

Four heads turned towards her and gave her looks that ranged from impassive to exasperated and even an annoyed eye roll from the vampire. Everyone was currently in Lafontaine and Perry’s room where blankets had been set up on the floor and a projection screen had taken up an entire wall. There was a much better kitchenette in this room than in the one in Laura and Carmilla’s room and Perry was currently using it to prepare several platters of desserts, popcorn and hot chocolate.

“Movie night and gift exchange, remember?” Lafontaine said, taking a mug of hot chocolate from Perry.

Danny rolled her eyes. “I remember _what_ we’re doing, I just don’t know _why_.”

“It’s the last time we’ll all be together before we separate for the vacation.” Laura piped in.

“It’s not like we won’t see each other once the new semester starts.” Danny grumbled, setting her bag down by the door.

“Did you bring your exchange present?” Perry asked distractedly, passing around a plate of fresh brownies.

“Oh! Yeah.” Danny grabbed the small package from her bag. “Here.”

“Great, now we’re just waiting for Kirsch and then we can start the movie.” Perry said, mostly to herself as she took the gift from Danny and placed it on the dresser where a small number of other presents were already stacked.

It had only been a few days ago that they had Laura had found her and invited her to this little get together. The only stipulation had been the gift exchange and Danny had seriously considered backing out when she had pulled Carmilla as her gift recipient. Luckily, Danny had used the opportunity for her own amusement and that was why there was a buffy the vampire slayer bobble head wrapped with Carmilla’s name on it.

Perry was shoving a cup of hot chocolate into her hands when Kirsch stepped through the door wearing reindeer antlers and carrying a gift the size of a shoebox. It was wrapped haphazardly and Danny could see the blank side of the paper sticking out everywhere but it was evident that he had tried his hardest.

“Ho ho ho, lady bros.” Kirsch exclaimed, and then nodded to Lafontaine. “Bio major bro.”

Lafontaine smiled appreciatively but Perry scolded him. “Not everyone worships Santa, Kirsch.”

“Oh, right. Happy Hanukah!” He added, handing his gift to her.

“Thank you. Now grab a mug and take a seat, we’re going to start the movie.” She told him.

Kirsch happily took a seat on the bed behind Laura and Carmilla and Danny seated herself on the computer chair besides the bed. Perry handed Kirsch a bowl of popcorn before settling on the floor with Lafontaine. Laf grabbed a remote control and turning on the DVD player, hitting play when they reached the DVD menu.

“And how is Les Miserables supposed to be a christm-, uh, a holiday movie?” Danny asked, changing her sentence when she caught Perry’s eye.

“It came out on December 25th.” Lafontaine shrugged and Carmilla chuckled.

“Ok, here we go!” Perry cheered, shushing everyone.

Watching the movie with the group was more enjoyable than Danny had expected, with Laura and Perry singing several lines to themselves, and Carmilla’s running commentary that pointed out the historical inconsistencies which, Danny hated to admit, were pretty interesting. They all gorged themselves on popcorn and brownies, poking fun at Kirsch when he burst into tears in the middle of the film and avoiding each other’s eyes when they all started crying at the end.

Once the movie had finished, Lafontaine helped Perry up from the floor while Carmilla turned on the lights. Kirsch was chatting animatedly with Laura about the movie’s ending as Danny stretched, reaching up high enough for the tips of her fingers to brush the ceiling.

“Anyone up for a drink?” Carmilla asked, pulling an expensive bottle of champagne and several glass flutes.

“Ok, a toast!” Laura announced, while Carmilla passed around the glasses. “I know this semester has been… crazy, but I wanted to say thank you to every single one of you. I honestly don’t know if we’d be standing here without you.”

Laura paused for a moment, giving each of them a brilliant smile, which Danny sincerely returned. They had all been through a lot in the last few weeks and it was nice to get together and truly appreciate that they’d survived.

“So, to us!” Laura finished, raising her glass.

“To us!” They all echoed, clanging their glasses together.

“Ok, now for the presents!” Lafontaine cheered, putting her empty glass down. “Ok, so grab the gift you brought and, when it’s your turn, you can give it to your person. I’ll go first.”

Lafontaine grabbed a small box and handed it to Perry. Danny wondered if it was chance that Lafontaine had drawn their best friend or if they’d conspired with Laura to affect the outcome. Perry’s gift ended up being a new charm to add to an existing charm bracelet.

“Oh, it’s beautiful, thank you!” Perry said, holding up the tiny, silver, mushroom. “Wait, is this because of the mushroom incident? Where did you even find something like this?”

Lafontaine didn’t answer, merely laughing and nodding while Perry looked scandalized. “That is not funny, sweetie! Well, fine. Here Kirsch, I hope you like it.”

“Thanks!” He said sincerely, tearing gleefully into the carefully wrapped box and pulling out a beer helmet that was personalized with the Zeta’s symbol on the front. “Sweet! Where did you even get something like this?”

“Lafontaine helped me.” Perry explained. “Apparently there’s a website that will paste a picture on practically anything!”

“Well this is awesome!” Kirsch said, putting his new hat on. He clapped his hands together once before grabbing his gift and tossing it to Laura. “Here you go, hope you’ll like it.”

“Aw, thanks Kirsch.” Laura chuckled, carefully opening his gift. She looked puzzled as opened the box until she spotted what was inside and she excitedly pulled out the contents to reveal a long yellow and brown scarf with a Hogwarts crest on it. “Oh my god, Kirsch! I love it! Look, Carm! Hufflepuff!”

“Good! I remembered that you loved British things!” He laughed as Laura struggled to wrap the scarf around her neck and pull the gloves on at the same time. He bent down and grabbed the fallen box. “And there was actually a two-for-one sale going on when I got these so I figured you two could use a match set.”

He held out another scarf that was colored green and silver. Laura took one look and squealed, grabbing from him and trying to wrap the new scarf around the vampire’s neck before she realized what was happening.

“Wha-?!” Carmilla asked distractedly, trying to twist away from Laura.

Carmilla was able to escape and rushed to the other side of the room but upon seeing Laura’s disappointed pout, she trudged back to where Laura was standing and allowed herself to be wrapped in her new Slytherin scarf. Laura pulled out her ancient phone and attempted to take a selfie before Lafontaine grabbed a real phone and took several pictures of them together as Kirsch and Danny howled with laughter at Carmilla’s scowling face.

“Alright, enough pictures for now. It’s my turn.” Laura giggled, grabbing her gift and giving it to Lafontaine. “Merry Christmas!”

Lafontaine stuck her hand into the bag and pulled out a DVD box set of Bill Nye the Science Guy. “Whoa! Awesome! Thanks, Laur!”

Lafontaine sat on a nearby chair and began reading the bock of the box, tuning out the rest of them. Perry sighed wistfully patting them on the shoulder. She glanced to the last two gifts left and began counting before shrugging.

“I guess that just leaves you two.” Perry said, gesturing between Danny and Carmilla.

Danny hadn’t considered that Carmilla may have gotten her for the gift exchange, or that they were going to be forced to go last. Danny grabbed her gift and handed it over to the vampire, who gave her a surprisingly heavy gift in return. Carmilla didn’t immediately open hers so Danny took that as her cue to go first. The box wasn’t wrapped, already colored red and green, and when she lifted the lid there was fluffy tissue paper in the way.

“So, I’m hoping that this will also double as a ‘thank you for saving me from a desolate pit’ gift.” Carmilla shrugged. She was trying to sound disaffected but Danny could hear a slight tremor in her voice. Was it nerves?

More curious now than anything, Danny removed the tissue paper to reveal the present. Inside the box was a threadbare banner, faded and frayed at the edges. Danny pulled it open with some difficulty, since the banner was about 5 feet long, and saw that it was stitched with the words ‘Silas University Summer Society’. A faded year in the corner put the banner at the year the Summer Society was founded and Danny couldn’t help the way her mouth dropped open as she examined it.

“I found that when I was going through my mother’s office. I figured you would like it.” Carmilla mumbled. “I know it’s not exactly something I brought so there’s a gift card buried under there somewhere.”

“That’s actually… really amazing.” Danny said hesitantly, folding it back up and placing it carefully back in among the wrappings.

“It’s like a piece of history.” Laura marveled, giving Carmilla an encouraging smile.

“Whoa! That’s so awesome. Do you think that you have any Zeta stuff lying around?” Kirsch asked.

“I doubt it.” Carmilla said dryly.

Everyone was staring at her now and she knew that it was because they were waiting expectantly for Danny to give Carmilla her gift. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and couldn’t help feeling slightly guilty. Despite their antagonistic relationship, Carmilla had given her a thoughtful gift that would make her a hero when she got back to the Summer Society house. She had no doubt that her sisters would want to display this in their common room and that it would make an excellent addition to their growing pictures and accolades.

“Uh, here.” Danny shoved her present into the vampire’s hands. “I didn’t think that gift were supposed to be-.”

Danny broke off as Carmilla pulled off the wrapping paper. She could see the vampire’s eyebrows rise towards her hairline as she recognized what it was. Laura and Kirsch leaned in to get a good look and Danny cringed when Laura’s faced morphed into one of realization.

“Wow, Danny. This is, uh.” Laura broke off, her eyes darting between the gift and her girlfriend.

“Smooth, Lawrence.” Lafontaine scoffed and Perry smacked their arm.

Danny was about to apologize, the guilt building in her stomach when Carmilla burst out laughing and a genuine smile crossed her face. She kept looking between the Buffy bobble-head and Danny, her laughing increasing every time she saw the look on the redhead’s face.

Everyone was frozen, not sure how to react when the most emotion they’d ever seen out of the vampire was sarcasm. Even Laura seemed concerned, hovering nervously and throwing meaningful looks to Lafontaine. Danny feeling uncomfortable now with all the looks she was getting from Perry and Laura, the smug look on Lafontaine’s face not helping.

“Ok, look, I’ll get you something else. A book! What about a nice book?” Danny rushed to make it up to her.

“No! It’s perfect.” The vampire assured her, patting Laura’s arm reassuringly.  

Carmilla smiled lightly and Danny felt wasn’t sure if she was just letting her off the hook or not. Carmilla caught sight of the box again and resumed her previous laughing. Like this, with the laughter still lighting up her eyes, Carmilla seemed more like the 18 year old Laura tried to convince them all she was.

“Are you sure?” Danny asked, still unsure.

“I’m sure. Thanks, Xena.” Carmilla laughed, turning the box over in her hands. “Really.”

Danny sighed in relief. “No problem, dead girl.”

Carmilla’s lips turned up at the nickname and for a second Danny was sure that this girl was not the same one she’d been bickering with over the last few months. Danny wondered if it was Laura that was effecting her or if Carmilla would have always been like this if it wasn’t for her murderous family.

“Great, now who wants to finish off the rest of this champagne?” Lafontaine asked, holding up the bottle.

“Yo, do you think there’s enough to play beer pong?” Kirsch asked, getting level with Lafontaine to try and measure the contents.

“There’s no way there’s that much left!” Lafontaine scoffed, grabbing everyone’s glasses for a refill.

“Ok, then pour mine into my hat! I want to use it!” Kirsch said excitedly.

Danny laughed as Laura tried to reach up high enough to put the champagne glass into his hat. She accepted her glass and took a sip, realizing that she really would miss these nerds over the holidays.


End file.
